Inca Civilization
Article

The Quena and Zampoña in Inca Music: Andean Wind Instruments

The most characteristic instruments of Inca music were wind instruments, particularly the quena and the zampoña (also called siku in Aymara, or zampogna in the colonial chronicles). The quena was a vertical end-blown flute, typically 30 to 50 centimeters long, with six finger holes and a thumb hole; it was made of bone, cane, clay, or, in the highest-quality examples, the femur of a deer or a vicuña. The instrument produced a soft, breathy tone that was thought to be particularly suited to the expression of melancholy and longing, and it was the principal solo instrument of the Andean tradition. The zampoña was a pan-pipe consisting of two parallel rows of canes of graduated length, bound together with cotton or llama-wool cord. The two rows were tuned in such a way that the melody was split between them, with the player alternating between the two rows to produce the full scale; this hanan-hurin (high-low) construction, the musicologist Thomas Turino has argued, was a material embodiment of the Andean principle of complementary opposition. The detailed treatment of the Inca music and festival tradition is given in the related article; the Inca religion and mythology is treated in the related article.

The quena: a notched end-blown flute

The quena (also written kena) was the most characteristic solo instrument of the Andean musical tradition, and it was the principal melodic instrument of the Inca court. The instrument consisted of a hollow tube of cane, bone, or clay, with six finger holes drilled in the front and a single thumb hole drilled in the back. The tube was typically 30 to 50 centimeters long, with an internal diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters, and was notched at the upper end to form a fipple — a constriction that directed the player’s breath against a sharp edge to produce the sound. The lower end of the tube was open, and the pitch of the instrument could be varied by the player’s breath pressure and by the size of the finger holes.

The quena was made of a variety of materials. The most common material was cane (Chusquea species), which was abundant in the Andean highlands and which produced a bright, clear tone. Bone quenas were made of the femur of a deer or vicuña, and were prized for their compact, warm tone. The most prestigious quenas were made of the femur of a vicuña — a material reserved for the Sapa Inca and for the senior panaca nobles. The chronicler Cobo recorded that the quenas of the imperial panacas were sometimes encrusted with gold or silver, and that the principal quena of the Sapa Inca was stored in the Coricancha between festivals.

The quena was played in a vertical position, with the player’s breath directed across the notch. The instrument was held with both hands, with the thumb of the upper hand covering the thumb hole and the fingers of both hands covering the six finger holes. The quena was typically played as a solo instrument, accompanied by the wankar (a single-headed drum) and the churu (a conch-shell trumpet). The chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega recorded that the quena was the preferred instrument of the amautas and the quipucamayocs, and that a skilled player could move his audience to tears. The principal modern interpreter of the Andean quena tradition is the Bolivian player Jaime Torres, whose recordings in the 1970s and 1980s helped to bring the instrument to international attention.

The zampoña: a pan-pipe of paired rows

The zampoña (also siku, siku, or zampogna in the colonial chronicles) was a pan-pipe consisting of two parallel rows of canes of graduated length, bound together with cotton or llama-wool cord. The two rows were tuned in such a way that the melody was split between them: the upper row (the huanca or hanan siku) carried the higher notes, and the lower row (the chanka or hurin siku) carried the lower notes, with the player alternating between the two rows to produce the full scale. The construction, the musicologist Thomas Turino has argued, was a material embodiment of the Andean principle of complementary opposition, with the two rows of the zampoña corresponding to the hanan (upper) and hurin (lower) moieties of the ayllu.

The zampoña came in several sizes, each suited to a different musical function. The ch’ili siku — a small, high-pitched instrument of perhaps 15 to 20 centimeters in length — was used for fast, lively dances and for the music of the hatun runa festivals. The taika siku — a large, low-pitched instrument of perhaps 30 to 50 centimeters in length — was used for slow, solemn music and for the music of the imperial cult. The sanka siku — a medium-sized instrument of perhaps 20 to 30 centimeters in length — was the most common size, and was used for general musical accompaniment. A complete zampoña ensemble typically consisted of two or more zampoñas of different sizes, together with a churu (conch-shell trumpet) and a wankar (drum).

The zampoña was typically played by a pair of musicians — one playing the hanan row and the other playing the hurin row — with the two alternating notes to produce the full melody. The technique required a substantial degree of coordination between the two players, and the chronicler Cobo recorded that the training of a zampoña player required several years. The zampoña was the principal ensemble instrument of the Andean tradition, and was used in the music of the principal festivals — the Inti Raymi, the Capac Raymi, the Qhapaq Raymi — and in the music of the rural ayllus.

A number of related wind instruments were used in the Andean musical tradition. The pinkillu (also pingullo or pincullo) was a long, single-reed trumpet, typically 60 to 100 centimeters in length, made of cane or wood. The instrument was used principally as a signaling instrument — for the announcement of festivals, the call to arms, and the marking of the agricultural day — and was less commonly used as a melodic instrument. The antara was a pan-pipe of a single row of canes, used in the highlands of Ecuador and southern Colombia; the instrument was less common in the central Andes, where the paired-row zampoña was the preferred form of the pan-pipe.

The churu was a conch-shell trumpet, made of the shell of the Strombus galeatus marine snail, which was imported from the coast through the mit’a labor system. The churu was used principally in state ritual — at the festivals of the imperial cult, at the coronation of the Sapa Inca, and at the principal battles of the imperial army — and the chronicler Cobo recorded that the sound of the churu was thought to communicate with the huacas and the ancestors. The churu was reserved for the Sapa Inca and for the senior panaca nobles, and the unauthorized use of the churu was a serious offense.

The pututo was another trumpet-like instrument, made of a hollowed-out section of a chonta palm trunk or, in the most prestigious examples, of a Strombus shell wrapped in gold or silver. The pututo was the principal signaling instrument of the state messenger system (chasqui), and was used to announce the arrival of state messengers and the progress of the imperial caravans. The chukchu was a small clay trumpet, used principally in the music of the rural ayllus; the chronicler Cobo recorded that the chukchu was the preferred instrument of the camayoq (ritual specialist) of the ayllu, and that the sound of the chukchu was thought to call the mallkis (mummified ancestors) to the festival.

Percussion and other instruments

The Incas used a small number of percussion instruments in their musical tradition. The wankar (also huáncar or huánkar) was a single-headed drum, typically made of llama or alpaca skin stretched over a wooden or ceramic shell, with the body of the drum being a hollow log or a ceramic pot. The wankar was played with a wooden stick or with the bare hand, and was used to provide the rhythmic accompaniment to the music of the quena and the zampoña. The cajón (a box struck with a stick) and the tinya (a small double-headed drum) were used in the music of the rural ayllus.

Stringed instruments were rare in the Inca period, although the chronicler Cobo recorded that a small harp-like instrument called the arpa was used in the music of the imperial court. The charango and the guitar are commonly played in modern Andean music, but both are post-conquest introductions. Bells of copper, bronze, and silver were used in state ritual, and the largest surviving examples of Inca bells — recovered from the Coricancha in the 1930s — are now in the collection of the Museo Inka in Cusco.

The role of music in Inca ritual and social life

Music was central to the social and ritual life of the Inca state. The chroniclers record that almost no activity of Andean life — agricultural, military, ritual, or recreational — proceeded without music, and that the calendar was punctuated by a dense succession of state festivals, each with its own prescribed dances, songs, and instruments. The principal musical functions of the state were performed by the quipucamayoc and by the camayoq of the imperial aclla wasi, who were trained in the music of the imperial cult from an early age.

Dances of two main classes — the taqui purucu (men’s dances) and the taqui warmicu (women’s dances) — re-enacted the mythical origins of the Andean people, the conquests of the Inca emperors, and the agricultural cycle. The taqui purucu was performed by men, often with weapons, at a quick and military tempo; the dance was associated with the conquests of the Inca emperors, with the military training of young men, and with the public display of valor. The taqui warmicu was performed by women, often in long lines or circles, at a slower and more measured tempo; the dance was associated with agricultural fertility, with the cult of the ancestors, and with the mourning of the dead.

The principal state festivals at which the quena and zampoña were played included Inti Raymi — the winter solstice festival of the sun — and the Taki Onqoy movement of 1560–1565, an explicitly nativist religious revival that called for the rejection of Spanish rule. The detailed treatment of Inti Raymi and of the Taki Onqoy is given in the related articles; the Inca music and festival tradition is treated in the related article.

The survival of the quena and zampoña in modern Andean music

The Spanish conquest of 1532 and the subsequent suppression of the Inca religion did not erase the Andean musical tradition. The chroniclers record that the indigenous population of the highlands continued to perform the taqui dances in secret throughout the sixteenth century, and that the Quinua Raymi and Huarucicu dances survived in the rural ayllus of the Chinchaysuyu and the Collasuyu at least into the 1580s. The quena and zampoña continued to be played in the rural ayllus, and the modern Andean musical tradition — represented by ensembles such as the Bolivian group Los Kjarkas and the Peruvian group Inti-Illimani — is a direct descendant of the Inca musical tradition.

The survival of the quena and zampoña in the popular music of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador demonstrates that the Andean musical tradition is one of the most enduring cultural inheritances of the pre-Columbian world. The instruments themselves have changed little in the half-millennium since the conquest, and the modern Andean quena and zampoña are essentially identical to their Inca predecessors in design and construction. The detailed treatment of the Inca music and festival tradition and of Inti Raymi is given in the related articles; the Inca religion and mythology and the Taki Onqoy movement are treated in the related articles.